Meddling
by NushiKasai
Summary: Sasori was known throughout the village to be selectively sociable; he was bitter, he was irritable and manners were all but foreign to him. When a certain pink-haired medic from Konoha manages to change that, the council of Sunagakure decides to intervene.


**Requested prompt on Tumblr. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nor will I ever. **

* * *

"Elder Chiyo?"

The girl pushed open the door, and hovered uncertainly on the threshold of the house. The buildings in Suna were quite different to Konoha's; rounded like a cylinder, but clumped together like the handiwork of children on the beach. In retrospect, Sakura supposed that the connection of all the main buildings was due to the constant danger of sandstorms.

She stepped forward into the house but with a level of hesitance. She didn't want to intrude; this wasn't her village, and the Hokage wouldn't appreciate it if she got off on the wrong foot with her partners that she was going to associate with for the rest of her assignment.

"Hello?" Sakura called out into the dimly lit room of the house. Outside, there was a strong coverage of sand, debris and dust in the sky, so the burning candles on the holders of the walls were signs that there was some sort of recent life inside the house.

She shifted uncertainly on her feet, and gave a fleeting glance behind her as she wondered whether it would be best to return later.

It was at that moment that the voice interrupted her.

"She's not here."

Sakura whirled around to see a young man standing behind her with a box in his hands. His hair was a deep shade of red and his lower fringe was supported and raised by his Suna-marked forehead protector. His eyes were a dark chocolate, but were flat and glazed with disinterest.

"Oh," the pinkette blinked in surprise and stepped aside to let the man pass her into the threshold of the house. She expected him to stop and elaborate, but he simply brushed past her and began to walk down one of the nearest corridors. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

The man didn't wait for her to follow at all. In fact, he barely acknowledged her presence, and busied himself with his own duties rather than pay her mind.

Obviously outraged, Sakura stood gaping like a fish for a moment, before shaking her head and following the man further into the house. Walking at a brisk pace, she stepped loudly in an attempt to get him to address her again, but like everything else, he didn't openly notice.

They descended a spiral staircase that was based around the walls of one of the cylindrical buildings that she had viewed from the exterior, and the pinkette couldn't help but marvel at the almost sand-like substance that coated the walls beside her. Was it sand? She had heard of certain Kazekage's that commanded the power of the desert sands, but was it quite farfetched to think that they would use such power to construct buildings?

Stepping off at the bottom landing, they wandered down through a dark, obviously underground corridor, and despite the heat of the day outside, Sakura began to feel the absence of the warmth with a shiver.

Opening a door, the pinkette followed after the man into a dimly-lit room at the end of the corridor. Immediately, she blinked in surprised shock; puppets of various stages of construction lined parallel shelves that led towards a single, wide desk propped against the furthest wall.

She stumbled along after the redhead man and noted that he was completely unaffected by the creepy presence of the dolls. He approached the desk at the end of the room, and promptly sat down in its main chair.

"Hello?" Sakura narrowed her eyes, more than irritated with him by now, and scowled as she skittered her way down to where he was. "Where's Elder Chiyo?" She expected him to at least grace her with a glance, but he was more preoccupied with the new wooden puppet pieces he began to pull out of the box.

She waved a hand in front of his face since nothing else seemed to work.

"Are you going to answer my question?"

"One with sense would already have the answer to that," he finally replied, but he did not spare her a glance.

She crossed her arms, amazed at this man's ability to snub her so obviously. It was her first day of her transfer in Suna, and she had already found the local's manners to be lacking.

"Am I right to think you don't know where Elder Chiyo is?" Sakura asked, trying to skip around to the side of the desk impose on his personal space as the puppet master fiddled around with a wooden arm. "I thought she lived here."

The man sighed, a trace of irritation finally showing in blank demeanour. He gently placed the arm back down on the surface of the table, and tilted his head to side in order to face her.

His eyes were not exactly set in a glare, but they were not soft either.

"You have already found that this house is capable of housing multiple tenants, foolish girl," the redhead harshly replied to her, his tone still low but scathing. "Kindly cease your incessant questioning."

"But I need to find her," Sakura pressed, her own expression hardening as he so obviously threw manners to the wind. "I need to know where she is."

"It is a pity then," the man replied sharply with a scowl, "that I am not my grandmother's keeper."

And no matter how much she tried to question him further, he would speak no more.

* * *

Sakura realised that Scurvy Grass was the treasure of the desert.

It was a beauty of a plant; so capable in reconstructing cells and reversing the effects of decomposition in the body with such a small dose. Inside the glasshouses of Suna, it was a sad fact that not much of the plant was kept, but after discovering its excellent properties, she had prompted the medics to change that fact.

Even as she worked, multiple collections of the plant were being potted and buried within the fresh soil behind her.

She carefully crushed a small section of it into small pieces within the small grinding mechanism, before depositing the results within a container to be sent to Konoha. There was no doubt in her mind that the Hokage would be very interested in the beauty of the little cure.

Beside her, the wizened old woman who Sakura had spent the afternoon of her first day in Suna fruitlessly searching for was gathering a bunch of the herb together and tying a rope around them to hold them together. It was to be stored away and dried in an experiment to discover how its properties would change after time.

"Elder Chiyo, how many more batches are needed?" Sakura asked politely, knowing that the woman was considered senile by some and therefore should be dealt with care.

"Three."

Nodding in affirmation, the pinkette increased her speed, hoping that their duties could be completed early so that she could explore the great village of sand. While she worked, she didn't notice the old woman's stare until it was voiced.

"Has anyone ever told you that you resemble the Slug Princess of Konoha?" Chiyo asked as she wandered over to the storage and deposited her batch.

Sakura blinked for a moment in surprise at the change of topic, and then smiled at the topic.

"Yes!" The pinkette replied, remembering multiple times in the past where Jiraiya had compared her to the Hokage. "She's my mentor."

Chiyo nodded slowly; the explanation made sense to her. A student would usually take the style of their teachers, and would pick up on certain quirks in behaviour and personality and replicate them in their own.

It was uncanny.

The silence resumed, but something had begun to bother the pinkette. On the subject of resemblance, Sakura had noticed how much the Elder reminded her of the man she had met a few days ago.

The redhead had said that Chiyo was his grandmother, and their behaviour was almost identical. It was obvious where he had gotten it from.

"Elder Chiyo?" she spoke up, voicing her thoughts. The woman grunted to show that she was listening and the girl took it as encouragement to continue. "On my first day here, I met a man in your house who said he was your grandson."

The elder raised her eyebrows in surprise and walked closer to the bench where the medic was working.

"You met Sasori," Chiyo explained, a frown encroaching on her forehead. "He spoke to you?"

Not quite sure what she been asked, the girl nodded in response.

"For a little while, at least," Sakura scowled in irritation as she remembered the man refusing to speak to her again. "Then he just stopped and started playing around with the creepy mannequins."

The Elder woman's eyes creased as she looked down for a moment, and then returned to her work; gathering the bunches of grass and piling them into storage.

"Sasori had a difficult childhood- one which I did not improve," Chiyo explained as she did so, her voice slightly cracking under the increased volume. Sakura was curious, she had to admit, and therefore focused intently on the woman's words. "I hid something very important from him, and I regret that now, due to the estranged course our relationship took. He used to adore me, now he resents me."

Sakura's eyes widened at her words, and frowned as she remembered the brusque nature in which the man, Sasori, had spoken to her in.

"So he doesn't speak to you then?" The pinkette asked, eyes creasing in confusion. "But he lives with you."  
"Sasori is rarely seen out of his workshop, and if he must leave, he ensures I am never nearby," Chiyo replied simply, speaking of her estranged relationship with her grandson in a rather calm tone. "It comes as a shock, then, that he spoke to you."

The girl gently set aside the grinder that she had been using, and scraped the remnants of the grass into a container set aside for her results. In her head, she ran through the events of her first day in Suna in her head, and wondered why the strange man would have even bothered to speak to her if it was not truly in his nature.

"Perhaps he was just being polite," Sakura suggested, though the words were false to her own ears.

"Sasori is not polite," Chiyo shook her head in dismissal, "He is selectively sociable."

"Selectively sociable?" Sakura repeated with a frown on her face. The man in her memory was not really sociable at all.

"He is selective," the woman replied after a moment to choose her words carefully, "He'll only talk to who he wants to talk to."

Sakura was about to respond, when she suddenly noticed the late hour of the day. Her eyes widened and she immediately began to scoop up the remains of her work into a small bag and hurriedly stuff her belongings into her satchel.

"I'm late to a meeting with the Kazekage!" The pink-haired girl clasped her hands together as best she could with her belongings cradled in her forearms. "Forgive me, Chiyo-baasama!"

The Elder watched her go with a blank face, and it was only after the girl had departed from the glasshouses that she muttered her final words for the day.

"Selective, indeed."

* * *

It was only when Sasori arrived at the training grounds that realised he was not going to be training alone.

He had been ordered into the Kazekage's office earlier that day, much to his annoyance. Predictably, he was basically assaulted by his old teammates Komushi and Pakura on the streets as he reluctantly made his way through the village. They harassed him good-naturedly as usual, ruffling his hair and commenting on how they hadn't seen him for too long, and despite his overly unsociable responses, Sasori knew that his teammates were among the few he could tolerate.

The Kazekage's orders had been brief, and were addressed to him front of the entire council. They were strange orders- it was simply to train- but it was too childish for him to protest.

Their _beloved _leader's orders were final.

It was not lost to Sasori that his grandmother was present in the council, and he couldn't help but suspect that she had held a part in this strange assignment.

It was not until he arrived at the training ground with his puppets in hand that he knew what they were up to.

"You."

Upon hearing his voice, the pink-haired woman at the opposite end of the training ground jumped visibly and whirled around to face him. Her innocent features held a soft, glowing blush of embarrassment at having been surprised by his appearance.

"What are you doing here?" The woman asked him, which caused him to raise his eyebrows at her unintentionally rude manner. She seemed to notice his disapproval- not that he could particularly talk- and the redness on her cheeks increased in sheepishness. "I mean…you're Sasori, aren't you?"

Again, his brows rose higher . It seemed the little girl had been doing his research. Judging by the convenient situation they'd been placed in, his grandmother had been her main source for information.

_How transparent_, grandmother, he thought to himself as he wordlessly approached her where she stood next to the tall poles on the other side of the training ground. _Very transparent, indeed._

Chiyou had obviously heard of his strange tolerance of the young woman he was now coupled with for training. It was a rare thing indeed for someone to be able to pry open his mouth and convince him to even speak to them. It was even rarer- unheard of, even- for someone to be able to form a bond with him. His grandmother hoped for more to come of the strange relationship that had occurred between the two in their last meeting.

It was true that perhaps Sasori did feel more inclined to speak around her. It wasn't romantic- which was obviously what his grandmother wished for- but it was not usual. He would guarantee that this elaborate set-up was some sort of ruse concocted by the Kazekage at the beseeching of his grandparents.

It was transparent. But not…entirely misplaced.

"Oh, are you here to train too?" Sakura asked with a frown on her face, obviously wondering whether one of them was going to have to bow on this matter. She flexed her gloves to show that she was also ready to practice her skills. "That's unfortunate…perhaps there's a way to divide the training ground."

"There is no way," Sasori replied bluntly, beginning to "This was pre-ordained by the Kazekage."

"Preordained? But why?

"He wishes us to spar."

It was an interesting move on the Kazekage's part, the puppeteer thought to himself as he watched the woman get ready to begin.

His skill would easily overwhelm the woman and then she would skulk back to his grandmother.

It was pointless.

* * *

The Elder Chiyo entered her house just as the sun fell beneath the walls of the village.

It cast a certain dark glow on the walls of the interior landing; the only source of light was the remnants of the burning sky that was no without the sun. A gradually darkening shade of orange was layered over every surface exposed to the light.

Just to be safe, the old woman took a torch off of the side of the corridor as she approached the winding staircases at the opposite end of the building. There was a matter that required urgent attention- and it was a matter that meant Chiyo was more than happy to scale the staircase with her aging body and weary limbs.

With the grace that only a former ninja could possess, she managed to reach the bottom landing without stumbling over the folds of her protective cloak.

The light of her torch illuminated the dark and dreary landing that had the atmosphere of the underground, and it was mildly disorientating as she approached the doors at the opposite end.

She hesitated for a moment as she reached the entrance to her grandson's workshop. It was not the first time she had been there, but it was the first time that she had really entered it without her grandson's will.

But there was a matter she wished to discuss.

She hung the torch up beside her on the rack and knocked once before entering.

What she found was not what she expected.

"Sasori?"

The old woman entered the threshold of the room, and blinked in shock. Scattered everywhere before her were crushed bits of puppet limbs and tools and her grandson was looming over the desk at the end of the room furiously working.

"Sasori, what happened?" Chiyo asked as she bypassed the crushed objects and made her way over to the man. She had seen Sasori's death aura before, but it had never before been this ominous nor threatening.

For a moment, he did not answer her.

This wasn't surprising- they'd barely spoken ten words to each other in the past year. In fact, she was almost sure that he wasn't going to answer her at all.

But he finally spoke up.

"The brat," he said with such vehemence and bitterness that she was shocked for a moment. He turned around sharply with a suspicious glare in his eyes despite the usual flat expression that had been trained onto his features. "It's your fault, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about, Sasori?" Chiyo asked in confusion, wondering what this destruction had to do with her. "What happened at your spar?"

"_This_ happened, foolish woman," Sasori hissed back in response, turning back around to his work, and furiously moving his hands to try and repair what had already been badly damaged. "She destroyed every one of them!"

He must have been talking about the young medic girl, Chiyo realised. This was disappointing; she had hoped that perhaps the girl's influence might bring out a new side to her grandson. A side for the better.

But then again, the old woman had never heard him speak so much.

"You used all of your puppets?" She asked, half surprised that he had been forced to resort to such measure against a young woman from Konoha.

"No, not all of them," the puppeteer responded in a low tone, his bitterness still apparent in his voice. "Just some…but that doesn't change the fact that she did this."

The woman was still in a state of shock and wasn't quite sure how to tread with this open version of her grandson. It was been too long since she had heard him like this- and whilst it wasn't a calm Sasori she was dealing with- he was talking, and that was the positive thing.

Perhaps this girl from Konoha _was _having a good influence on him after all.

"But…what are you going to do?" Chiyo asked, hoping that her grandson's defeat hadn't put a serious dent in his relationship with the pink-haired girl.

There was a moment of silence once more- only broken by the never-ending tinkering sounds of the man across from her.

Then, he turned his head once more to see him, and there was a light in his eyes that his grandmother hadn't seen for such a long time.

"I'll just have to defeat her in our rematch tomorrow."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Please drop a review and tell me what you think! This is a one-shot! **


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